7Munkee's Perpetual Organics and Earthboxes

[Week4Bytch]

Instead of making a new thread for each of my grows I have decided to put them all in one. I am an organic grower for the most part, although occasionaly I will use non organic imputs. I prefer SIPs (sub irrigated planters), namely Earthboxes and I have 4. Two stay inside for my medicinals and two stay outside for veggies and herbs. These Earthboxes each hold 12 gallons of soil, although you can mound another 3 gallons of soil on top, and the attached reservoir holds 3 gallons of water and can be filled VIA a tube. They also have a plastic 'shower hat' with an elastic band that acts as a mulch to keep moisture in.


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SOIL RECIPE

I use a blend of Subzero's living soil recipe and Clackamus Coot's recipe with a couple extra inputs I have found very useful. Most inputs are sourced locally from a Mennonite-run feed & seed shop—quality ingredients and great folks.

Base soil:
Equal parts peat, worm castings/compost, and aeration. I like to use castings mainly, with a small portion of compost ( I make my own) The castings are slow release NPK 1-1-1 and contain lots of microbial life plus they have chitinase, an enzyme that breaks down chitin, which is in the exoskeletons of insects like fungus gnats. For aeration I use lava rock, pumice, or perlite.



AMENDMENTS & MINERALS

To enrich the base mix, I use a tried-and-true combo that nourishes plants and feeds the soil:

Kelp/Alfalfa meal – 1/2 cup per cubic foot for micronutrients and root vigor

Neem seed mael – 1/2 cup percubic foot for NPK and pest deterrent

Crustacean meal – 1/2 cip per cubic foot adds chitin to stimulate chitinase activity

Langbeinite – 1/4 cup per cubic foot for potassium and magnesium, plus sulphur for a terpene kicker

Basalt/Granite rock dust – 2 cups per cubic foot for remineralization

Gypsum – 1 cup per cubic foot for sulfur and calcium without affecting pH

Oyster shell flour-1 cup per cubic foot. I buy the oyster shell chunks for chickin feed and grind it up in a coffee grinder.

Biochar – about 5% by total soil volume pre-inoculated with worm casting/ compost tea/Recharge

Sprouted (malted) barly-for aminos and enzymes NPK

Sprouted bean seeds/corn seeds - 1/2 cup per cubic foot (only for reamend) NPK

Mustard seed-ground up (so it doesnt start growing) sprinkled on top. Acts as a bio fumigator to kill baddies.

Red Wriggler worms. Yes you will have worms in your house, but I have never found one outside my soil. Worms aerate the soil and help break down the amendments.

With this mix, the soil is water only. Possibley for several grows. You can use any autowatering system with this or hand water. If hand watering, I go by 5-10% of total volume. The minimum size container you want to use is 12 gallons But with a 12 gallon pot you will need to reamend every grow.



This is my last grow that I completed 2 months ago. This was the 7th grow cycle in this soil.
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This my very first grow in this mix 3 years ago.
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Amazing.. I've been wanting to try these especially after Jeremy made them famous from his Build A Soil YouTube vids. Have two just sitting in the garage. I'm really impressed how these small pots can generate so much growth. Following!

 

[Week4Bytch]

Amended my second Earthbox. This one will be starting its 6th cycle. It's been sitting empty of plants since like January. I stuck my probe in it and surprisingly it was still moist enough to keep the worms alive. I did hit it with a quart of Recharge every 5 or 6 weeks though.
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I added 1 full cup of my seed meal, 1/4 cup of kelp meal, and 1/4 cup of Neem seed meal. Also added a cup of BuildASoil mineral mix. It contains powdered oyster shell, gypsum, and glacial rock dust. I couldn't find my bokashi, So I just hit the whole box with another quart of recharge and a quart of fulvic acid.
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The Earthbox in my 3x3 with the 2 Girl Crush is doing fine. I'm starting to get feeder roots and a nice mycelial mat starting for the flower cycle.
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This is the same box at the end of the last grow a couple months ago

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I had to scrape close to 4 inches off of it to replant.

Now to find my Bo-kashi...

Do you reuse what you scrape off?

 

[Week4Bytch]

Under the EarthBox mulch cap...let the nutrient cycling begin.View attachment 2486557

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I stopped counting at 100 growing tips.

This Girl crush doesn't stretch a whole lot. With a heavy defoliation on day 7 or 8 it will almost double. I've had Durban Poison that more than tripled
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Gave her a good foliar feed of fulvic acid to accelerate the nutrent absorption and drenched the soil with Recharge. My reservoir was empty so I took this opportunity to top water. I will fill the reservoir tomorrow with 3 gallons of water and I should be good for 2 days. There is no evaporation because of the mulch cover, so the 2 plants are drinking it all. Next week I will need to fill it every morning because week 2 is when this strain really does 80% of her stretching.

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What's your water source, from tap?

 

[7munkee]

Do you reuse what you scrape off?

Of course!! If it doesn't go into a smaller pot for a cutting, I lay it in my garden. Just moved last year so I have to start all over again building a veggie garden. My son brought home 2 yards of shredded bark this spring that was left over from a landscaping job and between that and my grass clippings, fish guts and leaves from the half dozen trees in my yard I should have a decent start next spring.

 

[7munkee]

What's your water source, from tap?

Yeah. Just tap water form my small rural town. I read the water report and there is no chloramine in it, only chlorine. The biology in my soil will rip that chlorine to shreds. It sits over night in my carboy so a lot of it will gas off.

 

[Week4Bytch]

Yeah. Just tap water form my small rural town. I read the water report and there is no chloramine in it, only chlorine. The biology in my soil will rip that chlorine to shreds. It sits over night in my carboy so a lot of it will gas off.

Same, use to RO my water ..but that gets old quick (or is getting old) Been using tap lately. No problems so far. I'm tempted to try the water collected from the dehumidifier, (after filtering it through charcoal). 90% on that idea.

 

[Week4Bytch]

Of course!! If it doesn't go into a smaller pot for a cutting, I lay it in my garden. Just moved last year so I have to start all over again building a veggie garden. My son brought home 2 yards of shredded bark this spring that was left over from a landscaping job and between that and my grass clippings, fish guts and leaves from the half dozen trees in my yard I should have a decent start next spring.

How do you like the Coast of Maine, been wanting to try that compost out. Very reasonable pricing compared to others out there

 

[7munkee]

So far so good. This solo cup of it has supported this bell pepper plant enough to produce 3 peppers. I did give it Recharge this morning though.

 

[7munkee]

Flower Day 21

The stretch is over and I am less than 12" above my screen at the highest top. Just where I like to be with this strain. I forgot to take cuttings from either of these before flipping over light schedule so I'm hoping neither is a unicorn. I hate reveging when I have such little growing real estate.

I defoliated quite a few leaves already but that is an ongoing thing through-out flower for me. This last reservoir lasted 2 days. My light is back on 90% and will stay this way for the next 5 weeks. I am 20" above canopy and I may raise it up 3-4 more inches.

The internodal spacing is relatively the same for each of these I grew out. Breeder has this locked down pretty good

 

[7munkee]

Flower Day 28

I'm starting to get the odor from this girl and she smells sweet. Pulled a few more leaves to open her up. Other than that I just fill the reservoir every other day and wait.

Trichomes showing up

2 Querkle clones happy in an Earthbox

Ans my pepper is changing color.

 

[Week4Bytch]

Flower Day 28

I'm starting to get the odor from this girl and she smells sweet. Pulled a few more leaves to open her up. Other than that I just fill the reservoir every other day and wait.

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Trichomes showing upView attachment 2503618

2 Querkle clones happy in an EarthboxView attachment 2503621

Ans my pepper is changing color.View attachment 2503622

How many times did you top these ladies? Looking great.

 

[7munkee]

Once each plant. This strain is pretty receptive to being trained horizontally. From soil to flower top it's less than 18 inches. I have the screen 9 inches above the box.

 

[Week4Bytch]

Once each plant. This strain is pretty receptive to being trained horizontally. From soil to flower top it's less than 18 inches. I have the screen 9 inches above the box.

I tried that and snapped a branch oops ... Don't know how you guys do it.

 

[7munkee]

I tried that and snapped a branch oops ... Don't know how you guys do it.

I top at node 4 but I keep my light close. The entire plant is like 6 inches tall at this point. After that you just keep tucking the tips under the screen. Never weave. Strain dependant though. Some taller stains do do well under a screen, like your sativa dominant ones.

 

[Week4Bytch]

I top at node 4 but I keep my light close. The entire plant is like 6 inches tall at this point. After that you just keep tucking the tips under the screen. Never weave. Strain dependant though. Some taller stains do do well under a screen, like your sativa dominant ones.

Thanks, I'll have to try that. do you weave it to the edge and then flip?

 

[7munkee]

Thanks, I'll have to try that. do you weave it to the edge and then flip?

I don't weave at all. when the tip grows, I guide it by reaching under the screen and pulling it down and over to the nest hole over. You need 3-4 inch holes in your screen for this to work properly. I use a piece of stiff metal fencing for this. Those nets don't work. The holes are like 6-8 inches apart. I like to flip when my screen is about 80% full so I have room to reorganize everything if I want to . At this point, no tip is more than an inch or two above the screen.

 

[Week4Bytch]

I don't weave at all. when the tip grows, I guide it by reaching under the screen and pulling it down and over to the nest hole over. You need 3-4 inch holes in your screen for this to work properly. I use a piece of stiff metal fencing for this. Those nets don't work. The holes are like 6-8 inches apart. I like to flip when my screen is about 80% full so I have room to reorganize everything if I want to . At this point, no tip is more than an inch or two above the screen.

Copy.. I don't know why I said weave,. I meant like what you described, "guiding it under the net". Those nets are a pain to work with, I've seen plastic nets out there but not sure about them, the stiff metal fencing sounds workable, just remembered Capt saying something about it. Thanks for the time. Appreciate it.

 

[7munkee]

Dat 33 and I'm seeing purples already. Biscotti shining through

 

[7munkee]

So I just got the AC Infinity Ionbeam UV-4. Its UVA and its spectrum is 365nm and 395nm. It cost $90 and is UIS compatible with the controller 69.

From what I understand, I should use it about 2-3 hours per day starting at about 50%. I have 3 bars jury rigged for today until I figure out a better way to install it. If I'm not feeling lazy I will hook up my controller and fans also. They are currently downstairs in my small tent.

 

[7munkee]

Flower Day 37

I gave my 2 Girl Crush some FFJ last night for the second time. I made it out of a banana a couple weeks ago. I also sent that AC Infinity Ion beam back because it was only UVA and is totally worthless to me for what I wanted it for. The website said for enhancing flowering stage and secondary metabolites. UVA really only has an effect during the veg stage. It helps create a shorter plant with wider leaves. I wanted UVB for terpenes and trichomes.

Purple coming out from the Biscotti genetics

My light is cranked up to 100% so I had to lower my light to 18" in order to hit an average of 820 ppfd across my canopy. This is almost as much as a plant can use unless you supplement co2

Lights out shot